Lions, Leaders And Lingerie: 5 Great Reads From Syria

A Syrian book vendor waits for customers at his street stall in the old city of Damascus, Syria, on Sept. 24, 2011.

Muzaffar Salman
/ AP

Originally published on September 12, 2013 7:41 am

What does President Bashar Assad think of himself? How did his father, Hafez Assad, rise from a dirt yard to rule the country? What happens to those who speak out against the regime? Who wrote the Syrian 1984? Does Syria make the best lingerie in the Middle East? Find the answers to these questions in our roundup of five great books about Syria, recommended by experts at Harvard University, Brown University and the University of Texas at Austin.